Community Tasting Note
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J @ y H @ c k wrote: 91 points
October 12, 2014 - Decanted at 9 am. Poured back into the bottle at 9:30 am. Drove to the get Jets game and enjoyed this from 10:30 am to 12:00. This is a terroir drive wine more than a grape driven wine, with undoubtedly a lot of Thomas River Brown influence. Why terroir? The pepper spice, which I find prevalent in all top of the mountain wines. On the other hand, most of those I have tried are TRB wines, so that has a big influence, but I do not get the same flavors from the TRB wines like Rivers Marie that are not Howell Mountain fruit. Nice smooth pepper, but black pepper, not a delicate sweet or soft pepper. The color is somewhere between medium and dark. Not an inky cab. There is some raspberry cream fruit mixed with dark black cherry. The ABV is 15.2%, which may bother some people while drinking this out of Reidel Sommelier glasses at Per Se, French Laundry or EMP, but the alcohol was just fine while grilling and eating assorted sliders (lamb, turkey, beef and salmon) with famliy and friends in the parking lot before the game. This wine has very nice balance a smooth palate and no back of the mouth bitterness. Overall, outstanding. I will space out the next few bottles over the course of a few years to watch them develop, but it's giving plenty of pleasure right now. I bought this direct for $40 and it's well worth it in my book.
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